And
he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to
the whole creation.
Mark
16:15 ESV
Recently
I reviewed an article by Thom S. Rainer titled Three Trends
in Local Churches That Are Accelerating.
(http://thomrainer.com/2014/11/24/three-trends-local-churches-accelerating/)
In his article Rainer states
that the three church trends that are accelerating quickly are:
- Churches that have multi-site and multi-venue locations
- Multi preachers and teachers
- Large churches that are quasi denominational.
Church
trends in general focus on the direction in which ministries are
going to be pointed as to get the largest outcome. In the sense of
the church a trend is used to point the church towards the people
rather then the people to the church. Often trends focus on fashion
or a way of doing things that are brand new, or even
non-conventional. Churches that consider themselves trend setters are
focusing on the way that God is viewed in reference to new and out of
the box ways of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As
an out of the box thinker I’m all for new ways of sharing Christ
with the world, but I often think that instead of being trend setters
we are just actually doing what the gospel says we are to do in the
first place. When I began my seminary education the term “Missional”
in reference to church ministry was and continues to be the focus of
the day. The missional perspective relates to God's people being
among the people and going to where they are and becoming part of
that community.
Even
before the missional concept we were to be trend setters from the get
go by adhering Christ's call for us to go out into the world
proclaiming the gospel. My intent in today's message is to proclaim
that God's people are to be radical in ministry and to be missional
in thinking out of the box in the ways that we spread the good news
of Jesus Christ.
But
we are to understand that we are not trend setters. Jesus Christ was
God's trend setter that came to reach out to the people in ways in
which they would accept him as Lord and Savior. Additionally, that
great idea that you or your church had for ministry, understand that
it is not a trend but rather a God given and a Holy Spirit given
revelation.
Beloved, my prayer
for you today is that you go out preaching and teaching Christ Jesus,
but in the understanding that it is what God intended us to do in the
first place.
This is the day that
the Lord has made.
